It is often desirable in laboratory work to have a controlled environment in which to allow experimentation to occur. This control would especially include temperature, particularly in biological experimentation and production. Several techniques have been developed to insure this control.
Many popular incubators are actually boxes which contain an atmosphere suitable for the growth of organisms. Such incubators are typically plastic or metal and consist of walls containing a variety of equipment assembled for the particular experimentation. Other types of controlled atmosphere incubators are adapted to receive a tray or rack of individual containers, reactors, or bottles in which experimentation and production are being performed. These racks are often on rollers and can be rolled into, and later out of, the controlled atmosphere enclosure.
One drawback to many of these known devices and systems is that the enclosure into which the racks are rolled take up a large amount of space, at least as much as the racks themselves. Thus, laboratory space, which is often limited and expensive, must accommodate cabinets and even, sometimes, small rooms into which bottle or reactor racks can be placed.